Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, if nothing else, is painfully capable of staying on message.

And that skill allowed him to provide precious little new information on the June 26 edition of NBC's Meet the Press. Host Tim Russert asked the right questions, but for the most part failed in his follow-up questions, too quick to move on to the next topic.

You'd think Russert would be better prepared. You'd think he'd write questions almost knowing — based on past Rumsfeld statements — what the secretary's likely responses would be, and when appropriate have follow-ups to counter his answers, exposing inconsistencies between current Bushspeak and earlier administration statements, differences between the administration's statements and statistics from the "war on terror," or gaps between administration beliefs and those of its critics.

The Daily Howler has on several occasions printed this passage from Russert's recent book, Big Russ & Me:

RUSSERT (page 308): The first person I called was Lawrence Spivak, the cofounder of Meet the Press and its moderator from 1966 to 1975, to ask his advice. "Learn everything you can about the guests and their positions," he told me, "and then take the other side on the air. If you do that in a civil way each week, you'll have a fair and balanced program, you'll get good answers, and you'll make news."

If only Russert were able to consistently follow that advice.

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How consistent is Rumsfeld? Here are some typical responses from his Meet the Press interview:

RUSSERT: Chuck Hagel, a Republican, said this: "Things aren't getting better, they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality. ... It's like they're just making it up as the go along. The reality is we are losing in Iraq."

RUMSFELD: That's just flat wrong. We are not losing in Iraq. ...

RUSSERT: The Times of London reports this morning that there have been two meetings between Iraqi and U.S. officials and some members of the insurgency. Is that accurate?

RUMSFELD: Oh, I would doubt it. ...

USSERT: Let me show you a graphic, which represents how tough it has been since the war began in March 19 of 2003. There have been 1,735 Americans killed; 13,085 wounded and injured; cost is $208 billion; we've been there for 831 days, and still have 135,000 American troops. Does any of that represent, in your mind, misjudgments made by you or the administration about Iraq?

RUMSFELD: Well, you know, you have to remember that in every war, a battle plan doesn't survive first contact with the enemy. This is in history. Why? Because the enemy has a brain and they're constantly adapting, so we're constantly adapting. Every time there's an adaptation, someone says, "Oh, there's a mistake." It isn't a mistake. It's just reality. ...